Okay, not a teeter-totter. But something about this sculpture I saw while walking around Cleveland State University feels like it has a similar dynamic energy of continually striving for balance, and the inner tension that comes with it. Photo by Amanda Painter.

Tonight (technically tomorrow morning) there is a Full Moon in mid-Libra, exact at 12:34 am EDT. Some Full Moons announce themselves with a major confrontation flooding us in emotional intensity, then wash away in an ebb tide of resolution. This one might feel more like standing in the middle of a teeter-totter on a playground, trying to keep it level while potential playmates on either end keep changing their mind about sitting down.

In other words, rather than this being a major watershed or pivot moment, continual modest adjustments look most useful. Overall, the astrological sky is still fairly imbalanced, with most of the major planets only spanning three signs: Pisces, Aries, and Taurus. That’s been the case for a while, and even a month from now the pack will only just be starting to disperse.

With the sky as it’s been lately, it can feel like one corner of our lives is very busy and intense, yet at the same time that activity may not feel like it’s moving us forward into new territory. It can be hard to get leverage when there’s nothing to push against (though you may have planets in your own chart offering some traction). So despite all the astro-activity of two weeks ago (spring equinox, Aries New Moon, Mars and Pluto changing signs), don’t worry if you’re not sure what’s really changed.

The time for potentially bigger changes is coming soon: April 20 through May 5 marks the spring “eclipse season.” The eclipses on those two dates are going to ring some significant bells, and represent an opportunity to re-align with new intentions and patterns in meaningful ways.

Today, however, the name of the game is making small but conscious, clear moves — continually — when you engage with anything that feels “unresolvable.” Each time you make a move, pause to notice the effect.

What has shifted about the situation? Has anything become clearer? What have you learned? Trying to steer things with a strong hand could prove frustrating; conscious reassessment will help you discover each next best move.

What exactly is going on to suggest this course of action? Tonight’s Full Moon is in what’s called a “yod” pattern. Not only is the Libra Moon opposite the Sun and Chiron (and loosely Jupiter) in Aries, it is also making “almost oppositions” to centaur planet Nessus in Pisces, and to Uranus and the asteroid Juno in Taurus. Juno and Uranus are, in turn, in a harmonious aspect of opportunity to Nessus.

Those “almost oppositions” are properly called a quincunx or inconjunct. They are exactly one sign off from an opposition.

Quincunxes are not very comfortable aspects. While an opposition creates a type of awareness that can be navigated through compromise and diplomatic disagreement (the kind where you learn to “hold space” for a position drastically different from yours), a quincunx insists on adjustmentsā€¦over and over again. It can feel a restless — like when you can’t get every part of your body comfortable at the same time when trying to fall asleep.

Today’s Libra Moon deeply desires — in fact, needs — balance, fairness, and beauty. How do you achieve that in the face of somebody else’s “personal truth” or wounding that may feel especially intense or insurmountable?

On the one hand, a situation like that could feel especially challenging because emotional and energetic boundaries can get slippery. Where is the line between compassion and doormat, between holding space for another and getting pushed out of your own center?

Are you encountering echoes of past transgressions or old patterns you’re ready to to stop repeating? If so, are there small but clear shifts you can make in how you meet the other person where they are while keeping that metaphorical teeter-totter from slamming to the ground?

On the other hand, you may be called to respond in a tangible, material way to an upset to routines and expectations (your own or another’s). There may be a desire to change course unexpectedly (especially relating to a relationship or art), just for the sake of variety. How do you do that fairly? How do you communicate your needs and get them met, while also hearing another’s needs and meeting them?

Again, I come back to the teeter-totter: a step one way, pause, and a step the other way; an inch or two to the right for a second and then an inch or two to the left. When jumping off is not an option (because you’ve made an agreement you want to keep, or it would be harmful to one or both parties, or you have faith that a genuine solution will arise), how do you find a way to enjoy the process? Or at least notice something useful in it?

A yod pattern yields perspective on whatever you’re dealing with — though that perspective may be hard-won, and I don’t want to trivialize situations that truly are tragic, grueling, or toxic. Pain is pain, and there’s nothing fun about it. If you’re going through some real shit, you may have some longer-term processes to engage with, and today’s Full Moon strategies might be limited in their application.

That’s okay. Integration of what you notice and learn today could be challenging, hence the suggestion to keep gently re-adjusting without getting too stuck insisting on a “final answer.”

Yet notice what others are reflating back to you today, so you can process it tomorrow or the next day. That conjunction of the Sun and Chiron in Aries — with Jupiter nearby expanding whatever you’re shining out into the world — could be making it a little hard to see your own “stuff.” And that “stuff” is a point of focus in today’s astrology.

Not in a way that is shaming or blaming or necessarily contentious. More like a reminder that we’re all works in progress, and progress is rarely — if ever — a straight line. Seen one way, it’s a road full of hills and valleys. Seen another way, it’s a spiral.

Today, it’s a teeter-totter with some well-meaning (if indecisive and inconvenient) playmates.  šŸ˜‰

With love,

Amanda

Simplified chart for the Libra Full Moon and the yod formed by Nessus in Pisces (bottom left) and Juno-Uranus in Taurus (bottom right) making quincunxes to the Moon at the top of the chart. Chiron, the Sun, and Jupiter are in Aries at the bottom.

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